Two new coaches ready to turn A.C., Vineland football around

Vineland High school football coach Josh Hedgeman, center, works with his team at practice Wednesday. The Clan opens its first season under Hedgeman tonight at Ocean City.

Thomas Kelly and Josh Hedgeman followed the same football
path.

Both starred at southern New Jersey high schools - Kelly at
Atlantic City and Hedgeman for Schalick in PittsgroveTownship.

Both played for Rutgers University in college. Kelly was a
defensive back and Hedgeman a linebacker.

Tonight, both make their Cape-Atlantic League head coaching
debuts with Group IV schools at 7.

Kelly leads Atlantic City against St. Augustine Prep.

"This is my alma mater," Kelly said. "This is my hometown. I
bleed blue and white. This ranks way up there with any football
experience. I get to represent the school I came from."

Hedgeman coaches Vineland against Ocean City.

"It will be exciting," Hedgeman said, "But I'll be more in the
mood of we have a task to do. As excited as I'll be, I understand
we're going down there to get a job done."

Kelly and Hedgeman are two of five new coaches at local schools
this season. Chuck Smith of Oakcrest, Mike Wilson of Lower Cape May
and Jamie Peterson of Wildwood also make their debuts this
season.

Kelly, 36, and Hedgeman, 39, were both at Rutgers in the early
1990s. Hedgeman, 1989 Schalick graduate, played special teams early
in his Rutgers career. He ruptured a leg tendon as a junior in 1992
and didn't play again.

Kelly, a 1992 Atlantic City graduate, enrolled in Rutgers in
1993 after a year at United States Military Academy in Monmouth
County.

Kelly knew Hedgeman, who was still around the Rutgers program
rehabilitating his injury.

"It's a crazy world out there to think we'd both be taking over
coaching in the same year at Group IV schools," Kelly said. "It's a
coincidence. I'm looking forward to seeing him."

Vineland and Atlantic City meet on Oct. 22 at Vineland.

Kelly is a former Atlantic City assistant but this is his first
head coaching job.

"It has been a whirlwind," Kelly said in the preseason. "My head
is still spinning."

Hedgeman has had success as a head coach before. He coached
Schalick to consecutive South Jersey Group I championships in
2003-04.

Both Vineland and Atlantic City come off losing seasons. The
Vikings were 1-9, while Vineland finished 2-8 in 2009.

Atlantic City was a perennial winner under former coach Bobby
Weiss even winning the 1999 South Jersey Group IV championship.

But Kelly takes over the Vikings at a challenging point in the
program's history. Holy Spirit, Atlantic City's biggest rival, is
an emerging state power and is attracting the top players from
Absecon Island and Brigantine.

Kelly worked out with the Vikings all summer.

"The off season was good," Vikings quarterback Jamal Anderson
said. "The head coach was on us. He wants us to be disciplined. We
had to run to each (workout) station during practice."

Meanwhile, Vineland has struggled for years. The Fighting Clan's
last playoff appearance came in 2003.

A friend of Hedgeman's, who he declined to name, told him about
the opening when former coach Ed Belfi resigned. Vineland's lack of
success appealed to Hedgeman.

"You have to change the attitude of the players on how to
prepare for games," Hedgeman said. "Your attitude reflects how you
perform. Programs that win those teams not only expect to win they
know how to win."